Theme Explanation: Destruction
Dear Reader,
Personally, 2024 has been another year of transformation. It’s been a year of learning, growing and in true nature of our beloved Jupiter, a year of expansion. The Winter Solstice photo and video shoot was held last October, and over the course of the last 14 months, I have gone through numerous iterations of this magazine and the corresponding documentary on YouTube. Every time I created this issue and the documentary, I felt consistently, “no! this is not it! i have more to say about the Kali Yugam!” It was a joke in my household that this issue was the Kali issue of all my issues, not only thematically, but the sheer difficulty to express my thoughts in a way that would create meaningful impact for you. Safe to say, that I think I finally got it.
It all came to me when I was speaking with my dad about Srimad Bhagavatam. He asked me, “what topic should we discuss?” I replied, “the Kali Yugam” as I was in an editing session of the doc while he called. We then went over a few concepts and he drew my attention to this verse: "The foregoing picture of the Kali age is dark indeed. Yet there is a light in it. What one attains by meditation in the Krita age, by making offerings to Him in the Treta and by His service in the Dwapara, one attains by repeating His names in Kali". In that moment, I realized... that’s it! The only thing that is going to help us through this very difficult time period is thinking of God. The overwhelming feeling I had in that moment was, hope. So that’s it, right? We all just need hope.
So, yes, we are in the Kali Yugam. This is evidenced in Srimad Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad Gita, and countless other scriptures that detail the effects of Kali. There will be leaders that care only for their own benefit as greed will increase, spirituality will decline, fear and anxiety will increase, our concept of family will change for the worse as we quarrel with loved ones over petty matters, Dharma will decrease and our Earth will suffer the consequence of our materialistic desires. Per the Hindu Timescale, we also know that time is cyclical. We know that our time period starts with Satya (Krita), then Treta (where Sri Rama comes), Dwapara (Sri Krishna’s arrival) and then Kali, where the avatar Kalki will arrive. “And then, what?” you may ask. Well, the cycle starts again.
This issue is not just about surviving in Kali Yugam but about transcending the cycle altogether. Our soul has endured these cycles countless times, and it is in its highest interest to break free and reunite with God. So, what must we do? Embrace spirituality, relinquish desire to diminish fear and anxiety, and surrender fully. While this path is undoubtedly challenging, we can take comfort in knowing that for every step we take toward God, He takes ten steps toward us. That is why, in the midst of this frightening and destructive Kali Yugam, we have a unique opportunity to draw closer to God than in any other Yugam.
With love & gratitude,
By Janani
